Bellows-actuating mechanism for musical instruments.



J. P. RAWLS.

BBLLOWB AOTUATING MEOHANISM FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25, L912.

. 1 3 13 Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

4 TTORNEYS James rot-x RAWLS, or COLUMBIA, sou'rn CAROLINA.

BELLOWS-ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed .I'uly 25, 1912. Serial No. 711,422.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

To all whom. it may concern.

Be it known that I, J AMES Ponx RAwLs, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Columbia, in the county of Richland and State of SouthCarolina,'have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Bellows- ActuatinMechanism for Musical Instruments, 0 which the following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to means for operating musical instruments,suchas organs, player ianos and the like which 111- clude power be lowsand is in the nature of a players bench and certain novel connectionswith the instrument whereby the instrument bellows may be actuated by aminimum effort on the part of the player.

An object of my invention 18 to provide a simple, though highlyeflicient construction adapted to support the (player of the instrumentand to e actuate by a simple body movement of the layer withoutneccssltatin pedaling of t e feet, as is usual.

A furt er object of my invention is to provide connections extendinginto the musical instrument and having connection with the bellows,which are of such a nature that the case of the musical instrument neednot be 0 en, but on the contrary, may be uniform y maintained in amouse-proof condition,

Other ob'ects, and advantages of my invention, will be apparent from thefollowing description, in which reference is made to the accompanyingdrawing forming a part of this specification, and'm which,

Figure 1 18 a artial vertical section through a musical instrument andmy imrovements shown in connection therewith; *ig. 2 is a verticalsection taken through my improved'pla ers bench substantially on theline 2-2'0f igl.I 1; Fig. 8 is a horizontalview through t e same takensubstantially on the line 3-8 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 14 is a detailperspective view of certain parts to be hereinafter specificallyreferred to.

In accordance with my invention, a musical instrument, such forinstance, as a layer piano indicated at A and which is a apted to beautomatically actuated by mechanism including bellows a mounted in the.lower ortion of its case, may be formed with an inte a1 unbroken lowercase front a, .inasmuc as I propose to journal 0. vertical post Bthrough the base a of the piano case, the upper portion 6 of which postis within the instrument case as clearly shown in Fig. 4. This upperportion 1) of the post is squared and rovide with oppositely extendingside mem ers I) having connection with the bellows blocks a whereby whenthe post B is oscillated these bellows blocks Will be simultaneouslymoved in o posite directions whereby to alternatel ex aust and inflatethe bellows a. As 5 own particularly in Figs. 1 and 3, the lowerexterior ortion of the oscillatory post B is provide with an angular armor crank b, to which one end of an outwardly extending connecting rod Chas a permanent pivotal connection at 0.

My improved players bench comprises a seat D, and a lower seatsupporting frame D, of which the former is provided with ribs (1extending along its under surface, certain of which ribs, asparticularly shown in Fig. 1, are recessed at opposite ends in order toreceive the iipper cross bars e of U-sha ed pivot bars the lowerextremities 0 which are bent outwardly at an angle and adapted forengagement within slots d of the supporting rame D. Certain other of theseat ribs d are adapted to receive between them the upper end of avertical lever F, the upper end of which is pivotally connected to theseat by a pivot f extending through the said ribs between which itsupper end is disposed as shown in Fig. 2. Intermediate its upper andlower ends the lever F is provided with a longitudinal slot f, throughwhich slot extends a transverse bar G, formin the fulcrum of the lever Fand supporte through portions of the seat frame D. The lower end of thelever F is pivoted, by means of a readily removable pin H to the forkedouter end a of'the connecting rod 0. Thus with the seat frame disposedin relation to the musical instrument, as shown in Fig. 1, and with theconnecting rod C coupled to the lever F by pin H, the player may, byforward and rear body movements rock the leverO and thus oscillate the0st B through the connections named. It IS to be understood that thebody movements necessary for the accomplishment of the functions statedare very slight, being in practice hardly perceptible owing to the factthat the particular post B and its connections with the bellows blocks amay be so regulated as to produce relatively greater movement at theends of the rod 1) than is communicated to the swinging seat D; It

should be "further 'noted that it issimply necessary to lace the seatand its frame in proper re ation to the musical instrument and couplethe connecting rod C to the seat lever F by means of in H, preparatoryto playing, and that w en it is desired to discontinue the playing, thepin H may be removed, thus freeing the connecting red C whereby thelatter ma be swung on its pivotc to a position beneat the piano andconcealedafrom view.

A further and important feature of my invention lies in the articularconnection with the instrument ellows inasmuch as by mounting a singleost B through a journal in the base a of t e instrument, the latter maybe maintained in a mouse-proof condition irrespective of whether it isin use or not.

I claim 1. A players bench for musical instruments, embodying asupporting frame, a seat pivotally supported on said frame and movablehorizontally by body movements of the player, and an u right memberintermediately pivotedin t e frame having a pivotal connection at itsupper end with said seat.

2. A players bench for musical instruments embodying a supporting frame.a seat having recessed ribs upon its lower surface, U-shaped membershaving lower offset ends journaled in portions of the supporting frameand having their upper cross bars disposed within the recesses of saidseat ribs whereby to enable playing movement of the seat with respect tothe supporting frame, and a lever havin an intermediate pivot in thesupporting rame and having connection at one end with the said seat,

substantially as described.

J AMES POLK RAWLS.

Witnesses:

A. G. DENT, J. G. CAUGHMAN.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for iivo cents each. by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0."

